News Update: Raybestos’ Simplified Product Offering is Built Around Technicians’ Needs
Raybestos brand brakes’ product offering has been re-engineered, following months of extensive research with repair technicians, the results of which can be seen in Raybestos’ new 1-2-3 brand strategy. “We conducted both qualitative and quantitative research to understand precisely what techs want and need from a brake supplier,” said Jeff Stauffer, vice president of global
Diagnostic Solutions: Fluid Maintenance…Selling Needed Services Vs. “Wallet Flushing”
Good import shop managers stay on top of their annual workflow by placing jobs like timing belt and brake replacements into categories that can be tracked on a historical basis. If a shop has faithfully tracked the kinds of work flowing through its service bays during the past 10 years, it might become apparent that
Selling Services: Cooling System Colors
All types of antifreeze contain corrosion-inhibiting chemicals to protect bare metal surfaces from electrolytic attack. Though automakers disagree on which chemical additives work best in their vehicles, essentially any kind of antifreeze will work in any vehicle. But how well will it protect the cooling system? And for how long? And will it void the
Troubleshooting MIL Issues: OBD II & “CAN” Scan Tool Diagnostics
The Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) is one of the most misunderstood warning lights on vehicles today. Most motorists have no idea what the light means or why it’s on. Some think the MIL light is an oil change reminder light. Others realize something must be amiss to cause the light to come on, but don’t
Under Pressure
According to the U.S Department of Transportation, cooling system failures are the number one cause of vehicle breakdowns on the highway. Many of these breakdowns are attributed to coolant leaks (hoses, radiators, bad radiator caps, etc.), water pump failures, thermostat failures and defective cooling fans. An industry survey conducted in 2003 by 1-800-Radiator reported that
AftermarketUpdate
New Automatic Transmission Fluid for 2006 Cars and Trucks Pontiac, MI — GM, in conjunction with Petro-Canada and Afton Chemical Corporation, have developed a new, improved automatic transmission fluid for all 2006 model year Hydra-Matic automatic transmissions. Developed for factory-fill as RDL-3434 and registered for service fill as DEXRON-VI, the new fluid represents a significant
Making Sense out of Sensors
Sure, you may be familiar with some basic sensor operation. But as an automotive technician, you may not really understand all of the ins and outs of many common sensors. Do you really understand how they work, how the PCM views them and the possible scan tool and DVOM results when things go wrong? If
The Future of Diagnostics Is In The CAN
Since model year 2003, a growing number of domestic and import vehicles have been built with a new onboard communications protocol called CAN (Controller Area Network). CAN is essentially an engineering standard for how computers and modules talk to one another via the serial data bus in a vehicle’s wiring system. It’s a high-speed standard
How Much Maintenance
How much maintenance is really necessary to keep a vehicle in good, running condition, safe and reliable? It’s a controversial subject for which there is no simple answer. Maintenance recommendations and requirements vary depending on the year, make and model of the vehicle, the type of driving it undergoes, the environment in which it operates,
Parking Brakes: The Forgotten Fourth Pedal…Or the Seldom-Used Stick
How Much Is Really Enough?